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Syracuse Students Join Rally for Gay Marriage

November 15, 2008 6:00 PM

Dsc_0985_4ABC News on Campus Reporter Jason Tarr blogs:

Tim and his partner have been together for more than 10 1/2 years. At some point he wants to marry the man he loves. But, more than a decade is a long wait, he says, and it feels as if it could be even longer with the recent passage of measures like Proposition 8 in California.

“Just like this sign says, ‘Love is Love,’” he said. “If you love someone you should be able to be with that person and to be respected.”

More than 3,000 miles from California, where voters passed Proposition 8 that restricted marriage to heterosexual couples, 171 people like Tim stood in front of Syracuse City Hall on Saturday. A light rain coated their clothes and they used plastic to cover their rally signs as they tried to take refuge under rainbow-colored umbrellas.

In Syracuse, residents and local college students say the issue hits home just as much for them as anyone else. Students held signs that read “We didn’t vote on your marriage.”

Talking with so many of the people at the rally, I found the reaction to the passage of measures like Proposition 8 to still be one of shock. The ballot vote overrode a California Supreme Court ruling that had recognized gay marriage as a right. Most people didn’t understand how the denial of gay marriage was approved, especially with so many liberal victories in the House, Senate, and most important, the White House, in the recent election.

“Hopefully with Obama in the White House there will come some further change,” rally participant Amber Luce said. “Obama means more than just racial change.”

But her colleague Janell Haynes quickly added: “Just electing Obama is not enough.”

She said that is precisely why rallies like the one in Syracuse are so important to her and rally organizers. She and other people at the rally said they believe there is a lot of misinformation about same-sex marriage and that the only way to change things is to get out and put a human face on the issue.

“People are seeing this as a moral issue and not as an issue of human rights,” Haynes said. “They (Prop 8 supporters) think it is going to affect their homes. . . but it doesn’t, it affects our homes.”

November 15, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (28)

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See,,,I would love somebody and he would always leave me for another radio record AND ON TIME. Shoot! Now I am running between "as she rises to her apartment Chief, everybody else was sure to know, he's watching her go". Go? Go where? And who was "he"? I haven't had a date in 8 years! North to Alaska so I can do my own brain tans? Or I can swing with Elton in 70' and Honkey Chateau while these liers are running on the banks-"Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, sons of bankers, sons of lawyers". I guess it is the math pencil and 3 degrees so I can stick your lazy you know whats into the can for not respecting women-not to mention the guy I married which you shunned. In the meantime, good ladies,,,I am going for the Marvin Grants and the Calvin Kleins.If you think I am listening to this line of you know what-guess again-especially after being a Kundalini, drug and alcohol free Barter Fair freak. And let me tell you something else: Nothing replaces love and marriage. Nothing replaces love and marriage between a man and a women-even if they plan to wreck it on time. Nothing. Nowhere. Zero. Period. If any of you are lucky enough to find a person of the opposite sex who has the guts to stick it out through it all, you will discover the sacredness of a God given rite that was the mystery no one could even express. Lighten up. Its not over yet.....

Posted by: Suzannaquanashawn | Nov 15, 2008 11:53:15 PM

Face it...you homosexuals who want to diminish the word marriage... YOU LOST on Prop 8... Get over it!.. Prancing around the streets, demonstrating, DEMANDING people change their minds about the vote..presenting a "in your face"..."you better like it" or "this is the way it's gotta be" attitude, is really the way to go!... Keep it up!... The people have spoken... Power to the PEOPLE!!!!

Posted by: stan | Nov 16, 2008 12:56:48 AM

Gayness is a deviate of normal. It is againt Nature, Against how the human body was design and what it was designed for.

It is a personal preference of sexual behavior.

If the government makes one abnormal sexual behavior legal, they will have to make them all legal.

Posted by: seah | Nov 16, 2008 5:08:57 AM

Nothing funnier than angry homos! Marching and prancing and throwing their hissy fits! If Cali said F you, then you can bet it will only be a matter of time before the rest of the US does. And BTW, Obama is against same sex marriage...just so you know :-)

Posted by: NubTail | Nov 16, 2008 8:26:16 AM

The very last worry on my mind is "gay rights." How incredibly selfish. We are fighting for our very survival as a country. Those students need to direct their energy to volunteering to assist the elderly, mow some grass, shovel some snow, provide a meal to the hungry, join the military, GIVE BACK.

Posted by: Yankee | Nov 16, 2008 8:27:33 AM

I think there are more important aspects of the Bible that we need to focus on.

Did you know that right now, my fellow christians there are people in this very nation that are deprived of the Biblical right to sell their daughters into slavery? That there are christians eating shellfish, shorning their beards, and wearing clothing of mixed fabrics?

We should be demanding our government allow the selling of our daughters-it's in the Bible!!!! We should storm the evil Red Lobster Restaurants and stone to death the patrons-It's in the Bible!!!!! We should be on the look out for sinners wearing cotton and wool blends and keep a large smooth stone ready to launch at their sinful heads-It's in the Bible!!!!!! And men who shave-beware their are christians watching you!!!!!! Personnaly if I dont see some stubble on that chin, well I know what to do, after all ITS IN THE BIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Michael ONeal | Nov 18, 2008 9:57:09 AM

In some places in this world, women are not permitted to hold jobs, drive, walk unaccompanied in public, show their faces or look a man in the eye. Women who defy the prohibitions may be beaten, raped or stoned to death.

These practices are backed up by centuries of tradition. They are codified into law. Religious scholars cite passages from the holy book to justify the practices. It is believed that this is the natural order of things, that women are naturally inferior and subservient to men. If the laws are put to a popular vote, they easily pass.

Does that make it right?

And if not... how much weight do the EXACT SAME arguments hold in the Prop 8 debate?

Posted by: Yukon Sam | Nov 19, 2008 10:13:23 AM

i think that it is a moral issue. homosexuality is a horrible blight on society; one that our kids shouldn't be exposed to. It is a choice...that's right...so if a person makes a perverted choice, society shouldn't have to pay for that choice. go be weird on mars...

Posted by: James | May 3, 2009 7:35:51 PM

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